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Since the sports world came to a grinding halt in mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic, speculation has been rampant about the 2020 football season.
With the return of student-athletes to campus for voluntary workouts imminent, it appears that there will in fact be college football this year.
Despite talks of pushing the start of the season back or playing only conference games, it also sounds like - based on comments by Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek on Wednesday - that it will start on time and be a full 12-game slate.
“Nevada’s planning to be here on Sept. 5 and we’re planning to be at Notre Dame on Sept. 12,” Yurachek said. “Whether there’s limited capacity at any of those venues, it still remains to be seen, but we’re all still planning to have those games.”
While many administrators and coaches have pinpointed mid-July as the latest teams can start practicing and still be ready for an on-time start to the season, there is more flexibility in the attendance issue.
Yurachek said he anticipates those decisions being made in early August so they can give fans a couple of weeks notice, but he also acknowledged that the plan - for now - is to be at full capacity for the Sept. 5 opener against Nevada.
The Razorbacks’ game a week later in South Bend, Ind., will likely have a reduced crowd, though. On Tuesday, Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins wrote in a New York Times editorial that he believes the school will have to “restrict admissions so that physical distancing is possible.”
Notre Dame Stadium has an official capacity of 77,622. If the Fighting Irish follow in the footsteps of Iowa State, which announced earlier this week that it’s cutting capacity in half this season, they’d allow only 38,811 fans through the gates. That would be a significant reduction for a school that had 273 consecutive sellouts until November last year.
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